Here Comes Success

or A Dream Within the Dream

One of the hyperpreterist/full preterist [1] gents made a keen observation after reading my article Covenant is the Key: Moses vs. Hyperpreterism. My argument was that since the Revelation follows the Covenant structure laid down in the Torah (and echoed throughout the Bible), we should expect the final section of the book to concern the future, otherwise known as Continuity or Succession.

The counterargument was that this section did concern the future when John wrote the book, but that we are living beyond that future now, and there is no final event or consummation. The only consummation was AD70.

This is a really good argument, but it does two things. Firstly, it makes nonsense of their own argument that Revelation 20 is another viewpoint of the events surrounding the end of Judaism in AD70. Also, it fails to take into account the structure and contents of Revelation 20 itself.

The Rest is the rest of Abraham and all those in “his bosom” (on his breastplate), who are now in the bosom of Christ, our Great High Priest. But Revelation 20 gives us a quick rundown on their actual rule. It has a beginning, and, quite inconveniently, an end. They argue that the 1000 years was somehow a time before the destruction of the Temple (which not only violates any normal person’s poetic sensibilities, it rides roughshod over the actual biblical symbol. See For A Thousand Years and the comments following.) But if that is the case, then this Succession, or rule, of the Old Covenant saints was not the future at all. This goes against the grain of the rest of the Bible. The pattern is forming, filling, future. Some future. Not only have full preterists robbed the New Covenant of its Succession, they have gutted the Succession of the Old. They make it an empty promise.

Not only this, the chapter itself follows the Covenant structure, so these full preterist gents have to deal with another level of the fractal, a dream within the dream. They have attempted to remove the New Covenant Succession by claiming that the New Covenant is simply the Succession of the Old. But the New Covenant itself has a Succession, and Revelation 20 demonstrates it.

The simplest way to look at this is to understand whom the book was written to, and what it promised. In other words, they rightly understand whose Succession chapter 20 is about, but they misunderstand the shape of the actual Succession itself.

As I wrote in The End is Not Yet, I believe the first resurrection occurred at the end of the Old Covenant, and the second resurrection will occur at the end of the New Covenant. So, what I am arguing here is that although the final section of Revelation does concern the Succession, or promised Rest, of the Old Covenant saints, Revelation 20 is itself a microcosm of the New Covenant era.

If you don’t understand this, a diagram will help. The full preterist agreed with me that the Future was the future of the Old Covenant saints:

But what I argue here is that even this fifth section follows the five-fold Covenant structure. In other words, the New Covenant is the Succession of the Old, but the New Covenant has its own Succession, which means that there is a final consummation yet to come.

If this is actually the case, then hyperpreterism is indeed in error. It is conquered by the fractal Word of God.

AN ANALYSIS OF THE STRUCTURE OF REVELATION 20,
WITH NOTES CONCERNING LITERARY AND COVENANTAL ALLUSIONS

The section begins with the binding of Satan. Just as Jesus, after three tests, tied Satan up through His obedience to the Father, so the Firstfruits Church bound him through three successive tests between AD30 and 70. As Jesus’ death cast him out of the heavenly Garden (into the earthly Herodian one), so the disciples’ deaths cast him out of the Land, out of the Holy Place, the court of God. His power over the nations was broken. So this is not a recapitulation of earlier bindings. It is the result of them. The sentence of bondage lasts not for a mere 40 years, but for an entire Covenant era. Every stanza follows the Covenant/matrix pattern. This passage has the Law of the Covenant flowing out of every orifice.

Just like the rest of the Bible, the pattern moves from binding to loosing. The Son of the Promise is bound by the curse of the Law, offered on the Altar, and loosed by an angel. Here, the Son as the angel binds the Accuser (of the Law) and looses the nations. This was, after all, the promise to Abraham.

Creation – un-Initiation

Then I saw (Light) …..an angel (Delegate) ……….coming down (as Moses) ……………from heaven, (Day 4) ……….having the key (Maturity) …..to the bottomless pit (Cave of Atonement)
and a great chain in his hand. (Day of God)

The second step is the authority of God delegated to a man or a people, who are then sent to do God’s will. It often contains Exodus themes, but here, that is reversed. It is not liberation for the Accuser, the true Pharaoh, the true Egyptian god, but bondage. He was made a slave to Christ!

As is often the case with God’s enemies, the literary structure adds an element of irony by speaking of their downfall at Ascension. Satan exalted himself to the right hand of God, but not as an Advocate. So he would be cast down. This required not only the Ascension of a righteous Adam, but that of a righteous Eve, the Firstfruits church.

Ascension – un-Enthronement

and he cast him (darkness) …..into the bottomless pit, ……….and shut him up, ……….and set a seal on him, ……………so that he should deceive ……….the nations no more …..till were finished
the thousand years.

Shutting Satan up corresponds to the Bronze Altar, and setting a seal on him corresponds to the Golden Table. In the structure of the Revelation, it is the Lamb who ascends from the Altar of the Land, opens the seals of the New Covenant and sets a seal upon the Firstfruits saints, the martyrs.

Notice the Gentile swarms on Day 5, and the word “finished” on the Day of Atonement.

Testing – the false Law re-opened

But after these things (Transcendence) …..he (Hierarchy) ……….must be (Ethics – according to Law) …..released (Sanctions)
for a little while. (Succession)

The word “must” in Revelation means according to the Law of Moses. When the entire “social” Creation of Christ is complete, and the earth reaches its ultimate Jubilee, even Satan himself will be released. But in this freedom, he will once again condemn himself through his Testing, his deception, of Man. If this is the case, his release is the “release” of the Azal goat.

“The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land;
and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.” Leviticus 16:22

Maturity – Death (Old Covenant Bread)

And I saw thrones, and they sat on them,…..and judgment was committed to them.……….Then [I saw] the souls of those who had been beheaded……………for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God,……….who had not worshiped the beast or his image,…..and had not received [his] mark on their foreheads…..(Adam – High Priest – Head)…..or on their hands.…..(Eve – People – Body)
And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

Besides swarms (birds, fish, locusts), smoke (incense and sulphur), armies, Gentiles, brothers and money, Maturity is the legal witness of the saints to the Law because they are filled with it. But it is the point at which Adam failed to intercede for Eve, repeating the Law (Deuteronomically!) to defeat the serpent. Adam, in a sense, made a peace pact, a false Covenant, with the beast. So the false Adam, the High Priest, was the first century False Prophet, who cried “peace, peace” instead of slaying the dragon using the Law of Christ.

Notice the head and body breakdown on the Day of Atonement. It corresponds to the Sanctions, the Covenant Oath applied no longer to bulls (Adams) and goats (Eves) but to the actual people. In AD70, animal substitutes were no longer accepted for Israel. Israel herself would be sacrificed, and she was. Her holocaust was the result of her rejection of Pentecost.

Notice that, although witness, a profession of the Covenant, is the theme (Step 5), here, the actual witness is in the centre, as a witness to the Light of the Law. Analysis of the literary structure really does open for us the full intent of the author’s words.

An example would be the use of the word “beheaded” at Ascension. Ascension concerns the Covenant Head, the bread of the face. Just as Jesus was the Firstfruits Lamb in Revelation 5, here, the saints are the Firstfruits offered to God — which was a witness against the faithless offerings of the Cainite Herods and brought about the final vengeance for the blood of Abel.

Maturity – Resurrection (New Covenant Wine and Oil)

It seems that this “Maturity” section has two parts, just as it does in Psalm 1. Usually, such an expansion means this is the main point of the passage.

But the rest of the dead did not live again (Darkness)…..until the thousand years were finished. (Bondage)……….This [is] the first resurrection. (Firstfruits)……………Blessed and holy [is] he who has part in the first resurrection. ……………(Ethics fulfilled)……….Over such the second death has no power, (Eldership)…..but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, …..(Body and Head, Smoke and Torch, Mediators – Day 6)
and shall reign with Him a thousand years.(Shekinah – House filled with Glorious OC Church)

Conquest – The Laver of Fire

Transcendence
Now when the thousand years have expired,

Hierarchy…..Satan will be released from his prison (Genesis)……….and will go out to deceive the nations (Exodus)……………which are in the four corners of the [Land],……………Gog and Magog, (sons of Japheth, head and body)……………(Leviticus – false nearbringing)………………..to gather them (deception) (Numbers – Balaam)……………together to battle, (Deuteronomy – false Trumpets)……….whose number [is] as the sand of the sea. (Joshua – false Laver)

Notice there is no rest at the end of the stanza.

Ethics 1 – False Ascension
They went up…..on the breadth……….of the Land……………and surrounded……….the camp…..of the saints
and the beloved city.

This Conquest section is a three-and-a half. The devil will not make it through the final refining fire. He won’t even qualify — as the saints did — to be smoke.

Did you notice that the four stanzas follow the Tabernacle pattern, yet the destruction of the Devil is actually the full pattern played backwards? This is why I get so tired of theologians throwing verses back and forth at each other without any reference to structure. I don’t blame them at all. But I wish they could see that the solutions to our squabbles are hidden in the shape of the text.

Glorification – The Ivory Throne of Solomon

DAY 1 – TRANSCENDENT LIGHT
Then I saw a great white throne …..and Him who sat on it,……….from whose face the [Land]……………and the heaven fled away.……….And there was found…..no place for them.(No Sabbath, no Canaan)

This refers to the end of the New Covenant, so the “Covenantal heavens and earth” are the physical ones. (See A New Heavens and a New Earth for the chiastic nature of this, and see Bible Matrix II: The Covenant Key for why.)

DAY 2 – THE FIRMAMENT REMOVED (HIERARCHY OF MANKIND)
And I saw the dead,…..small and great,……….standing before God,……….and books were opened. (Seals broken: Law given)……………And another book was opened, (Law opened)……….which is [the Book] of Life. (Law received)…..And the dead were judged according to their works,
by the things which were written in the books.

DAY 3 – SEA AND LAND EMPTIED
The sea gave up the dead who were in it,…..and Death and Hades (Veil)……….delivered up the dead (Altar)……….who were in them. (Table/Fruits)……………And they were judged, (Ethics)……….each one (un-Swarms)…..according to his works. (Sanctions)(No Sabbath)

DAY 4 – ETHICS APPLIED
Then Death and Hades…..were cast into the lake of fire. ……….This is the second death.……………And anyone not found……….written in the Book of Life …..was cast into the lake of fire.

(No Sabbath)

Again, a three-and-a-half for the unfaithful Adams who squandered their inheritance and wouldn’t come home, in the Son, to their accepting Father.

So, to repeat, the point is that this chapter shows us that the Succession for the Old Covenant saints was to rule in heaven during the New Covenant era, but that the New Covenant era itself is a complete Covenant, that is, it has a beginning and an end, the Tour of Duty of the Warrior and the Warrior Bride.

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[1] A full preterist is the subjective term. A hyperpreterist is the objective term.

About me

Mike Bull is a graphic designer who lives and works in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, Australia. His passion is understanding and teaching the Bible, and he writes occasionally for Theopolis Institute in Birmingham AL, USA.